A journalist explains why she focuses her education coverage on parents and vulnerable children
By Colleen Connolly
It’s rare to find a TV journalist these days so invested in deep education coverage. But WPRI Providence investigative reporter Steph Machado breaks the mold in more ways than one.
Officially an investigative reporter covering politics and City Hall, Machado first started covering education when Rhode Island took over the city’s public school system in 2019.
With a TV audience in mind, Machado regularly goes after big education stories that have a real-world impact. Her most recent investigation (with colleague Eli Sherman) dug into how a lack of services for children with special needs is keeping them out of school entirely, which led state lawmakers to call for action and resulted in Juju — one of her main characters — finally getting to go to school.
Machado centers parents in her coverage more than many education journalists. But she also believes education coverage is just as important for non-parents and worries about what other stories she and her fellow reporters are missing, especially those with hard-to-find sources.
“I would like to see more stories about how school systems are serving (or failing) the most vulnerable students,” Machado told us in an email interview. “Sometimes it keeps me up at night thinking about the kids who are slipping through the cracks.”
Above: One of Machado’s most recent investigations.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What prompted you to look into the education of RI’s children with special needs — and why hadn’t this story been covered elsewhere before?
My colleague Eli Sherman came to me with a tip that some preschool-aged children with special needs were waiting on services in Providence. While we had covered various issues within the special education system, including a teacher shortage and a long waitlist for Early Intervention services (ages 0-3), this was the first time we had heard that a school district was unable to provide special education services to children ages 3-5, which they must provide under federal law. We started interviewing families, advocates, and school leaders to get to the bottom of what was going on.
How did the parents feel about talking on the record with full names — and what steps did you take to make sure that they knew what they were getting into in terms of having their story broadcast to the world?
These parents were very eager to talk on the record since they were trying to get help for their children. They felt like they had tried every other avenue. Some were not willing to be interviewed on-camera, which is fine since we already had one mom for TV. We quoted the rest of them in the written article.
Some were not willing to be interviewed on-camera… We quoted the rest of them in the written article.
Which of your school-related investigations has made the biggest splash or had the biggest impact?
It may end up being this special education investigation, though it’s a little soon to say what the impact will be. There are certainly a lot of advocates and lawmakers pushing for special education reform at the State House after our report.
Other than that, I would say my reports about COVID relief spending in schools have gotten more attention than I expected. Providence public schools have spent very little of their American Rescue Plan Act funds, despite being in a crisis that both predates the pandemic and became worse because of it.
Lawmakers have also taken action to try and address the teacher shortage, which I’ve covered extensively here in Providence, though I certainly wouldn’t presume to take credit for raising awareness of that issue.
Looking back at the Providence schools takeover, is there anything you wish you’d done differently or would recommend to reporters in districts like Houston and Boston where takeovers are looming?
Post-takeover, the level of transparency from the Providence public schools is much lower, in part because none of the state’s decisions have to be vetted or approved by any public body such as the Providence School Board or Providence City Council. This means for the most part, big decisions — hiring, spending, even closing schools — are discussed in secret and only announced after the decision is made. This side effect of the takeover only became apparent after it was underway, so I’d recommend asking procedural questions about how decisions like this will be handled in other states.
Post-takeover, the level of transparency from the Providence public schools is much lower… This side effect only became apparent after it was underway.
How do you pick and report stories that are important to parents, knowing that they’re such a big part of your audience? What education stories would you do — or not do — with parents in mind?
Parents are looking for specifics, not broad strokes. An example of that would be covering the annual release of the RICAS standardized test scores. The general audience is going to be interested in the top-line numbers: is Rhode Island’s education system getting any better? We do tell that story. But parents also want to see how their child’s specific school is doing. So we create easy-to-read charts and searchable databases specifically so parents can look up their child’s individual school and compare the scores to the previous years.
Parents are looking for specifics, not broad strokes… [They] want to see how their child’s specific school is doing.
What education stories/topics/approaches seem over-done to you right now — and what (if any) don’t get the kind of attention they deserve?
I would like to see more stories about how school systems are serving (or failing) the most vulnerable students, including special needs students, homeless students, and those who don’t speak English fluently. It’s harder to do these stories because it’s difficult to locate and connect with parents/students who don’t have a permanent home or are not English speakers. They also aren’t the majority, so there will always be more stories about issues that affect a larger number of students, and that’s OK. But sometimes it keeps me up at night thinking about the kids who are slipping through the cracks.
Previous journalist interviews from The Grade
‘We wasted a lot of time:’ A veteran reporter reflects
(with former Providence Journal reporter Linda Borg)
How the New York Times reported on Providence schools without going into classrooms
(with New York Times reporter Susan Dominus)
Profiling valedictorians to highlight school inequality
(with Boston Globe reporters Meghan Irons and Malcolm Gay)
Not just any high school story
(with former ProPublica reporter Hannah Dreier)
